Etymograph

English

aeviternity

Aeviternity comes from Latin aeternus ‘eternal, perpetual’, from Proto-Italic *aiwom ‘period, age’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eyu- ‘long time, lifetime’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂eyu-1‘long time, lifetime’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*aiwom2‘period, age’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEaevum1‘eternity, agelessness, timelessness’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEaeternus3as aeviternus‘eternal, perpetual’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1651aeviternity3

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin aeternus
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Latin aevum
  3. 3 Wiktionary, English aeviternity
  4. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1651, Joseph Hall: “There [in the new heaven] shall we, indissolubly, with…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*h₂eyu-Wiktionary, Latin aeternus‘long time, lifetime’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*aiwomWiktionary, Latin aevum‘period, age’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEaevumWiktionary, Latin aeternus‘eternity, agelessness, timelessness’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEaeternusWiktionary, English aeviternityas aeviternus‘eternal, perpetual’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1651aeviternityWiktionary, English aeviternity. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1651, Joseph Hall: “There [in the new heaven] shall we, indissolubly, with…”

The story

Learned borrowing from Latin aeviternus (‘eternal, perpetual’) + English -ity (suffix forming nouns, especially abstract nouns), probably modelled after eternity. Aeviternus is derived from aevum (‘infinite time; eternity, timelessness; undefined long period of time, age, era; generation, lifespan, lifetime; temporal mode of existence between time and eternity’) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ey- (‘age; eternity; life, vital force’)) + -rnus (suffix forming adjectives).

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *h₂eyu- ‘long time, lifetime’

aye, ay, eon, aeon, 7 more

through Proto-Italic *aiwom ‘period, age’

age, 8 more

through Latin aevum ‘eternity, agelessness, timelessness’

longevity, eternally, eval, 5 more

through Latin aeternus ‘eternal, perpetual’

eternal, eternity, 2 more

Today it means

noun Synonym of eternity (“existence without end”).

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “aeviternity”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin aeternus, Latin aevum. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *h₂eyu- / aeviternity

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